Our Verse in Time to Come @ DC Public Library

Vernice is a Jamaican born, Afro-Caribbean theater artist who is passionate about the arts as the most universally accessible agent for positive social change. Directorial highlights include long-term collaborations with: Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, opera diva Jessye Norman, HBO comedienne Hazelle Goodman, and Hip Hop legend Malik Work. International credits: Three Women (Break the Silence) by anthropologist Dr. Omotayo Jolaosho for South Africa’s Market Theatre Lab (a performance about women finding their voices amidst gendered repression of their bodily and sexual autonomy); Nomansland (performed/co-directed) with Seth Baumrin’s Subpoetics International in Slovenia, Ukraine and Poland. Television: Shadowed director Felix Alcala on the CBS series Madam Secretary throughout filming of season 6 episode 9 “Carpe Diem.” Directed both the inaugural and revived productions of Bee Trapped Inside the Window by Saviana Stanescu for Heartbeat Ensemble, the Romanian Cultural Institute and Ithaca’s Civic Ensemble. Commissioned by Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr., Bee is a work that explores the effect of modern-day slavery on the lives of three ethnically different American women living in CT.  Co-founded A Laboratory for Actor Training Experimental Theatre Company with Joann Maria Yarrow, to evolve work they began with Roberta Carreri at Eugenio Barba’s Odin Teatret in Denmark.

Actor-writer-musician Malik Work is a founding member of The Real Live Show, a groundbreaking music conglomerate known for bringing the NYC jazz and hip hop communities together for albums, events, and projects that transformed the culture of both.

Director Of Programming and Artistic Director, Folger Theatre

Devin E. Haqq (Ambition’s Debt) is an Emmy nominated producer, a member of the Fiasco Theater Acting Company, an IFP alumni, and a Finalist for the HBOAccess 2020 Directing Fellowship. His feature film, Ambition’s Debt, won the 2017 Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the prestigious American Black Film Festival (ABFF) and the 2018 Paul Robeson Award Honorable Mention at the Newark Black Film Festival. Recently, Devin produced the short film Cupids, directed by Zoey Martinson, which had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival as part of the 8:46 Films Initiative sponsored by Procter & Gamble (2022 NAACP Image Award Nominee). Cupids has since gone on to play at some of the top film festivals around the world, including Woodstock, Cambridge, Chicago International Film Festival (Gold Hugo Award Nominee), Riverrun, The American Pavilion at Cannes, and recently aired on CBS & BET networks. 

Harlan is a graduate of Florida A & M University (BS Theatre) and the North Carolina School of the Arts (MFA Scenic Design). Companies Penn has designed for include the Birmingham Children’s Theatre, Black Spectrum Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, St. Louis Black Rep, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Paul Robeson Theatre, Anacostia Playhouse, American Stage Co., Forestburgh Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Theatre Alliance of Washington D.C. and many more.  Favorite Scenic design credits include: Gem of the Ocean, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Jar the Floor, The Piano Lesson, Jitney, Nicholas Nickleby, Blacken the Bubble, Flyin’ West, Dreamgirls, For Colored Girls, King Hedley, Chicago, Ain’t Misbehavin and Extremities to name a few. Harlan is also a proud member of United Scenic Artist Local 829 where he works currently as an assistant art director and Scenic artist on major films and network television shows.

Jeannette Christensen (Costume Designer) Folger Theatre: Metamorphoses (Associate Costume Designer), Our Verse in Time to Come, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Associate Costume Designer), Amadeus (Associate Costume Designer). GALA Hispanic Theatre: On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan (World Premiere in Spanish; Helen Hayes Award Outstanding Costume Design); The Kennedy Center/ Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Show Way. Work at other theaters includes Olney Theatre Center; Round House Theatre; Wolf Trap Opera; Studio Theatre. Work at regional theaters includes American Players Theatre; Oklahoma City Repertory Theater; Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; American Stage; The Muny. National tour: Show Way, On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan. Arizona State University, Design & Production, BA; University of Maryland, Design, MFA; Maryland Institute College of Art, Business of Art & Design, MPS (Graduating Sept. 2024). Jchristensendesign.com

Nick Hernandez (Sound Designer, Composer) Folger Theatre: Our Verse in Time to Come; Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: The Day You Begin, Look Both Ways; Round House Theatre: Nollywood Dreams, The Mountaintop; Ford’s Theatre: Fences; Mosaic Theater: Monumental Travesties; Theater Alliance: Word Becomes Flesh (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Production); Imagination Stage: Havana Hop, All the Way Live (with sibling Paige Hernandez), Oyeme, The Beautiful, The Hip-Hop Children’s Trilogy; Adventure Theater: Luchadora; Glimmerglass Opera: Stomping Grounds. Additional credits include music production for Hot 97 FM; Netflix, Smithsonian Associates, Words Beats & Life, Inc. and at DC Public Libraries.

Angelisa is a director and choreographer based out of Washington, DC.  Most recently she directed The Hula Hooping Queen at Imagination Stage and the 4-time Helen Hayes nominated (including Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Musical Production) Once on This Island for Constellation Theatre Company.  She also directed Wanda’s Way and Mamalogues for 1st Stage and co-directed the Helen Hayes nominated Day of Absence with Raymond O. Caldwell at Theater Alliance.  Her direction and choreography have also been seen at Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Young Playwrights’ Theater, Ally Theatre Company, In Series, Freshh Theatre Inc., University of Maryland, Bowie State University, Montgomery College and Catholic University.  Angelisa has an MBA, PhD in business and MFA in directing.  For more information visit www.angelisa.net.

Chelsea Dean (Properties Designer) Folger Theatre: Our Verse in Time to Come, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. GALA Hispanic Theatre: Jardin Salvaje. Round House Theatre: Nollywood Dreams, The Great Leap. The Kennedy Center: Beastgirl, Show Way. John Hopkins Peabody Institute: Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Two seasons at Muhlenberg College’s Summer Musical Theatre. Olney Theatre Center: Props Apprentice. Costume Design: Salisbury University: Mamma Mia!, Mud. Salisbury University: Costume Shop Manager, occasional Prop Master and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the resident theatre ensemble, Fultontown Theatre Company. Fultontown Theatre Company: Director and performer. @chelsea.maker.of.theatre  @fultontowntheatre 

Kaja Dunn (Resident Intimacy Director) Folger Theatre: Metamorphoses, The Winter’s Tale, Our Verse In Time To Come (The Reading Room Festival); Arena Stage: American Prophet; Denver Center for the Arts: Choir Boy, 5thAve; ACT Theatre (Seattle): Choir Boy; St. Louis Rep.: Private Lives, Confederates; Two River Theatre: Wine In The Wilderness; Penumbra Theatre: Sugar In Our Wounds; Broadway: A Strange Loop (Assoc. Intimacy Director); Television: The Best Man, Final Chapters, Harlem, The Equalizer; Awards: Kennedy Center American Theatre Award, Playwrights Project Excellence in Arts Education; Publications: Arden Contemporary Shakespeare, Intimacy Direction For Theatre, Theatre Symposium, HowlRound. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (UK). Carnegie Mellon University: Associate Professor.

Danica Rodriguez (she/her) is a New York/Washington D.C.-based casting director and theater maker dedicated to centering and celebrating the voices of the historically underrepresented. She is currently Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Resident Casting Director. STC: The Lehman Trilogy; Macbeth In Stride; Evita; Here There Are Blueberries; King Lear; Jane Anger; Much Ado About Nothing; Red Velvet; Our Town; The Merchant of Venice. NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: cullud wattah (World Premiere); Romeo y Julieta; Soft Power; for colored girls…; Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park); Mojada; Ain’t No Mo’ (World Premiere). REGIONAL: Folger Theatre: Our Verse in Time to Come | Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes; Incendiary | The Kennedy Center: The Day You Begin | Long Wharf Theatre: Passing Strange | JAG Productions: Next to Normal | The Civilians: El Condor Magico, and others. FILM: Braid of Time; Whole; Six Feet Apart.

Dr. Proctor (Playwright, Director) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Tulane University, Department of Theatre. He holds a BA in English (Webster University), an MFA in Acting (West Virginia University), and a Ph. D. in Theatre Research (University of Wisconsin Madison). He has played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (The Organic Theatre), Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (Arizona Repertory Theatre), Othello (The Greenbriar), Airline Highway and Father Come Home from the Wars (Southern Rep). He Directed Into the Woods (Summer Lyric Theatre), Derek Walcott’s Pantomime (Crescent City Stage), and Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind (Tulane University). In September 2022 his essay Romeo and Juliet at an HBCU was published in the essay collection Romeo and Juliet, Adaptation, and the Arts: ‘Cut Him Out in Little Stars’ (The Arden Shakespeare). In January of 2023 his essay Reconsidering and Recasting was published in Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity (Bloomsbury Press). His primary research examines the intersection of race, casting, and the peculiarities and specifics of Identity-Conscious casting practices, particularly in Shakespeare.

Sarah designs for theater, themed entertainment, immersive experiences, and mixed-reality productions. Kansas City Actor’s Theatre: Dot. Music Theatre Heritage: Song & Dance, Camelot. Experience Theatre Project: The Great Gatsby’s: Daisy and multiple associate design credits with Kansas City Repertory Theatre and The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. BFA in Design and Technology at Western Michigan University and MFA in Design at University of Missouri – Kansas City.  www.skreeddesigns.com

Wardrobe Associate

cforkpah@folger.edu

Folger Theatre: Amadeus, 1 Henry IV. Everyman Theatre: Jump, Sense and Sensibility (ASM). CATF: 2022 Swing Stage Manager. Imagination Stage: Corduroy, Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth & Thumbelina in rep. Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences: The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: (1st or 2nd ASM) First You Dream, Follies, The Lisbon Traviata, Ragtime. Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Tempest Free for All (ASM). Ford’s Theatre: 13 productions as ASM including Violet, The Laramie Project, Fly, Parade, Sabrina Fair, Jitney. Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: American Utopias, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Arias with a Twist. Theater J: 15 productions including Talley’s Folly, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Sotto Voce, Broken Glass, Falling Out of Time.